Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The husband and wife team of Michael Williams and Judi Dench were already well-respected actors when they decided to undertake Bob Larbey's sitcom A Fine Romancein 1981; it would prove a wise choice, as the 26 episodes over four series would eventually garner nine BAFTAaward nominations and win two, for Dench's performance, in 1982 and 1985.

Concerning a very different kind of star-crossed lovers than Williams and Dench had been classically trained to portray, A Fine Romance handles the entirely modern subject of social ineptitude amongst the middle-aged with a typically British elan; acting as ideal foils for Laura (Dench) and Mike (Williams) are Laura's sister Helen (Susan Penhaligon) and brother-in-law Phil (Richard Warwick), whose own seemingly perfect marriage fuels much of Laura's insecurity...

This episode of A Fine Romance - which, appropriately enough, was the pilot - is posted here today in memory of Michael Williams, who died on this day in 2001. In addition to various stage and screen collaborations, their 30 year marriage produced a daughter, known as Finty Williams; Williams also has a son named Sam.*share on: facebook

The more I read of Ron Chernow's massive biography Alexander Hamilton - which is one of those books where the more you read the more it seems there is of it to read - the more obvious it becomes that Hamilton's life and achievements warrant every word; 300 pages in and I find myself dreading the arrival of page 731, where it ends, almost as much as I fear that once I get there the ending will have somehow been moved back another 200 pages!

Born on this day in either 1755 or 1757 (record-keeping in those days being so much more conducive to myth-making than it is today) Hamilton's shocking early life - he was born, for instance, out of wedlock - or rather his zeal to overcome its stigma, seems to have motivated him to achieve as much as he did. Fortunately, his ambition was wedded to precocity and he lived in such interesting times that he was able to; alas, his predilection for scandalous behaviour must have been inborn. Even today he is not as fondly remembered as he might be because of it.

As one of the most learned and eloquent framers of the US Constitution, Hamilton's imprimatur was all over the new government after September 1789; though officially he was the first Secretary of the Treasury (and so one of only two non-Presidents still featured on US currency - the other being the redoubtable Benjamin Franklin) his vision of a strong central government, advocacy for the placement of the capital at the site where it is today, and push for the creation of the US Coast Guard, represent just some of his positive innovations. He was also one of the founders of the Federalist Party; the introduction of the partisan element to American politics can be considered one of his negative contributions.

Yet even at this pinnacle, scandal was waiting to unseat him; his reputation was badly damaged by a liaison he conducted with Maria Reynolds which at one point involved his being blackmailed by her husband. Already married to Elizabeth Schuyler himself (since 1780) the whole mess caused Hamilton's resignation, which became the young Republic's first sex scandal; fortunately his enemies (who by now were legion) had no access to the wartime letters Hamilton had exchanged with either John Laurens or the Marquis de Lafayette - laden as they were with allusions to 'the unspeakable vice of the Greeks*' - or things would have been much worse.

In the end, of course, it was yet another scandal which brought about Hamilton's death; easily the most famous duel in US history, in July 1804 tensions between himself and Vice-President Aaron Burr which had been simmering for years boiled over when Hamilton slandered Burr by implying he'd been involved in an act of incest. They met at the Heights of Weehawken (New York state had long since outlawed duelling, but New Jersey hadn't) where Burr fatally shot his nemesis.

Hamilton was removed to his country estate, The Grange, where he died of his injuries the following day, July 12th; he was 49. The home where he died is now preserved as a museum.

While in the past the video for No More Drama had been unavailable to me for embedding - forcing me to rely on an entirely adequate live performance in lieu of it in 2009 - on this day in 2010 I received a pleasant surprise... As I was engaged in my usual hunting and gathering for the day's posts there, in all her diva glory, was Mary J. Bligeand the embed code for her very moving video!

The title track of Blige's 2001 fifth albumNo More Drama, produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, was the second single from the album, and climbed charts around the world; featuring a sample of Nadia's Theme (more popularly known as the theme to the soap opera The Young and the Restless), the song's message is one which is eagerly embraced by the Pop Culture Institute, the majority of whose drama involves finding and keeping videos posted despite the constant depredation on them by various ill-willed record labels.*share on: facebook

My Personality Type

What Kind Of Liberal Am I?

My Liberal Identity:

You are a Social Justice Crusader, also known as a rights activist. You believe in equality, fairness, and preventing neo-Confederate conservative troglodytes from rolling back fifty years of civil rights gains.